An armed career criminal who tried to force his way into the bedroom of Netflix star Anya Taylor-Joy during a terrifying late-night raid on a London mansion has been jailed
Tristan Kirk Press Association Courts Editor
06:21, 03 Feb 2026
Anya Taylor-Joy was staying at a mansion in London when the raid took place(Image: PA Archive/PA Images)
An armed robber who tried to get into the bedroom of Hollywood star Anya Taylor-Joy when she was staying at a London mansion has been jailed. Kirk Holdrick, 43, was one of two masked men who smashed their way into the luxury property in February 2023, in a raid which may have been targeted at the movie star.
Taylor-Joy’s rockstar husband, Malcolm McRae, confronted the intruders, then barricaded himself and his wife inside one of the bedrooms. He was armed only with a lamp as Holdrick and his accomplice attempted to prise open the bedroom door with a crowbar.
But McRae managed to scare off the burglars by shouting out, “I have a gun, I have a gun”, Wood Green Crown Court was told.
Prosecutors submitted to the judge in writing that the way the burglars tried to get into the bedroom, rather than simply stealing expensive items, suggested they were intending to target the celebrity occupants personally. After McRae’s gun claim, Holdrick and his partner in crime fled the home empty-handed.
But nine days later, Holdrick struck again, in a second home invasion in which a woman and her daughter were held at gunpoint, tied up, and threatened with violence.
He and accomplice, Ashley Fulton, disguised themselves as police officers for the raid in Sandbanks, overlooking Poole harbour, before going on to threaten to burn the daughter with an iron and shoot her dead in front of her mother if she did not open the family safe.
Holdrick, who previously briefly dated one of the cast members from The Only Way Is Essex, is a career criminal and was jailed for life in 2005 for armed robberies on a security van transporting cash and a jewellers. He was recalled to prison to continue serving his life sentence after his latest offences and, last November, he was jailed for 12 years for the Sandbanks robbery.
Holdrick has now been handed a further three-year prison sentence for the burglary involving Taylor-Joy and her husband.
The Golden Globe winning actress, 29, whose work includes The Queen’s Gambit, the Dune movies, and Peaky Blinders, appeared on the Baftas red carpet a week after her ordeal.
She was staying at the London property on February 12 2023 with her husband and his musical partner in the band More, Kane Ritchotte, when the break-in happened, at about 1am. They heard the glass in a side door of the home being smashed and McRae went to investigate.
When he saw Holdrick and another man – both wearing balaclavas and gloves – forcing their way into the property, the singer and guitarist shouted “hey, stop” before retreating. He ran back to the bedroom where he and his wife were staying, locked the door and told Taylor-Joy to hide behind the bed.
McRae then armed himself with a lamp as the intruders started to force the bedroom door open with a crowbar. The rockstar shouted out that he had a gun, the thieves appeared to stop their efforts to wrench open the door, and after a brief discussion among themselves about the presence of a gun, they fled.
When Metropolitan Police officers arrived, Taylor-Joy and McRae were still barricaded inside the bedroom, with damage done to the door frame. The couple told police they had been traumatised by the ordeal, and feared being targeted again in the future.
CCTV footage captured the moment that Holdrick and his accomplice scaled a wall to the home, triggering an external security light, and became “startled” as they made efforts to break into the property.
Holdrick, who also went by an alias, Aaron Evans, left his DNA behind on the back door, while shoe prints from his trainers were found outside the bedroom door.
He was arrested on April 18 2023 after stepping off a ferry from Belfast to Liverpool, and denied being responsible for the burglary. Holdrick claimed he had visited the property in the past as an attendee of a party, and suggested that was how his DNA had been left behind.
But he later abandoned his defence and pleaded guilty to burglary in mid-December last year. When he was sentenced by Judge Barbara Mensah, prosecutors highlighted the fame of Taylor-Joy and her husband, and argued the raid may have been “targeted” as Holdrick headed to the bedroom rather than stealing expensive items from the rest of the home.
The Press Association has obtained documents submitted to the judge as part of the sentencing hearing which took place in mid-December, following the guilty plea.
In the early stages of the case, Holdrick’s lawyers tried to convince the Crown Prosecution Service to drop the burglary charge since he is already serving a life sentence and had admitted the Sandbanks robbery offences.
But the CPS insisted on continuing the case, arguing that the London burglary may have been part of an escalating pattern.
Nine days after the thwarted raid on Taylor-Joy and McRae, Holdrick and Fulton dressed as police officers and armed themselves with an imitation firearm as they targeted the home of wealthy businessman Mark Aitchison.
They barged in on Mr Aitchison’s wife, Kerry, used cable ties to restrain her, and told her she would be killed if she did not open the family safe.
When the couple’s daughter Emily arrived home unexpectedly, she was also seized by the robbers, dragged by her hair, and threatened with the gun, Bournemouth Crown Court heard.
The intruders threatened to shoot her in front of her mother and asked where they kept the iron, telling her: “We want to burn you.”
Ms Aitchison tried unsuccessfully to open the safe, and the robbers fled with about £200,000 of luxury watches, designer handbags, jewellery and cash.
However, the robbers left behind a trail of DNA at the scene, while police traced the getaway car and recovered vapes the two men had been using inside the vehicle.
Holdrick, who is originally from Borehamwood in Hertfordshire, has convictions dating back to when he was a teenager, including burglaries.
He pleaded guilty in Bournemouth to two counts of robbery, possession of an imitation firearm, and fraud.
Holdrick was ordered to serve 12 years in prison for that offence, alongside his life sentence, and he was given four extra years on licence if he is set free.
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